10 things in tech you need to know today

Sam Shead

Apr 8, 2016, 12:45 IST

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know this Friday.

1. Amazon has promoted the leaders of its online-retail site and cloud-computing unit to the CEOs of their respective groups. Amazon now has three CEOs in total, including one for its online-retail site and one for its cloud business.

2. Verizon is expected to place a bid for Yahoo next week, while Google is also considering making an offer, according to a report by Bloomberg. Verizon values Yahoo's core business at less than $8 billion (£5.7 billion), the report said.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

3. People are horrified that Facebook's hidden inbox is hiding incredibly important messages. Here's how to see if you have any messages in the secret vault.

4. A group of the biggest US newspaper publishers have cosigned a cease and desist letter sent to the former Mozilla CEO's new browser company. The browser, Brave, has ad-blocking software baked into it.

5. HP CEO Meg Whitman said IBM's Watson is "not as far along" as you might think. Watson is IBM's super-smart, talking computer.

6. Research shows mobile users spend about 30 minutes a day on Facebook. Nobody else is even close, with Snapchat being the next most commonly used at 8.5 minutes, followed by YouTube at 8, and Instagram at 7.1.

7. Apple might be considering killing off the laptop keyboard as we know it and moving to a completely flat touch surface. That's according to a patent published on Thursday.

8. Morgan Stanley analysts think Twitter is still struggling. Analyst Brian Nowak and team lowered their expectations for how high the company's shares can rise, how many users it can add, and how much it can earn from ads.

9. x.ai has raised $23 million (£16 million) for its human-like AI bot who organises your meetings. The virtual PA that the company has produced is called "Amy Ingram."

10. Rental-car company Hertz has made a $50 million (£36 million) strategic investment in Luxe, a San Francisco-based startup that handles car parking for you. Luxe can be thought of as valet on-demand.